A post-apocalyptic horror movie for the 21st century

Rating: Null/10 (20 May 2003)

On paper this movie seemed like a brilliant idea - one of the most talented British directors of recent years making a post-apocalyptic horror movie for the 21st century. But even though this stands out from the crowd of mostly dumb, formulaic horror flicks that we've endured in recent years, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed by it.
Technically, this isn't the zombie movie many have labelled it as, since the movie's `infected' aren't actually dead - they're just seriously angry, to the point where they want to eat people. And while the script borrows heavily from classics such as `Night Of The Living Dead' and `Day Of The Triffids', here the monsters don't just stumble along in the hope of falling upon juicy humans, they can run really fast. Some critics have deemed this silly - but as I've already pointed out, the `infected' aren't actually dead, so why shouldn't they be able to run? In most movies of this kind, where the 'zombies' are actually dead, there is never any satisfactory explanation for why dead people should suddenly start walking around hankering after human brains. In this respect, `28 Days Later' provides one of the more credible and well thought out storylines of the genre.
All the best horror movies are made on low budgets, and `28 Days Later' continues this tradition (although I'm sure Danny Boyle and co. would've appreciated a few more millions for the production). It's shot entirely on digital video, which as well as giving the whole movie a suitably gritty look, adds a kind of raw edge to the action sequences, because of the way digital media responds to quick movements.
The main problem though, is that there isn't much here that hasn't already been done. Many scenes can easily be traced back to other movies; the scene early on where Jim wakes up in a deserted hospital is straight out of `Day Of The Triffids' for example, and the last third of the film is set in a big house under siege from the `infected' - very similar to the plot of `Night Of The Living Dead'.
This isn't as seminal as say, `Trainspotting', or even as sharply directed as `Shallow Grave', but for fans of the genre, it's definitely worth a look.